Cochlear implants have successfully restored at least some hearing to approximately 200,000 people worldwide. As successful as these implants have been in restoring some function to the cochlea and the auditory portion of the inner ear, there currently is not a reliable treatment that addresses the other portion of the inner ear, the vestibular system. The vestibular system is responsible for providing balance to individuals. Millions of people worldwide suffer from balance disorders, leaving many of those with severe cases debilitated and unable to perform normal daily tasks. Several groups have begun investigation of an electrical prosthesis for the vestibular system but will likely be limited because of current spread within the vestibular space. Additionally, some early human recipients of electrical based vestibular implants have gone deaf after being implanted.
Many people would benefit from receiving both a cochlear implant and a vestibular implant if substantially all or all of the hair cells in the inner ear are damaged, thus disabling the auditory and balance senses of an individual. Often, implanting a device into the vestibular system or cochlear can damage the other system, leading to the need for treatment of that other system. Since the vestibular and cochlear systems both reside in the inner ear and are connected, a combined device would allow for effective treatment to be provided to each respective area. Additionally, the use of optical stimulation for one or both of the devices is likely to be more efficacious because infrared nerve stimulation or a hybrid infrared and electrical method is more spatially selective than electrical by itself due to the current spreading that happens during electrical stimulation.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,004,645 to Brian E. Lemoff et al. (hereinafter, “Lemoff et al.”), titled “VCSEL ARRAY CONFIGURATION FOR A PARALLEL WDM TRANSMITTER”, issued Feb. 28, 2006, and is incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,031,363 to James R. Biard et al. (hereinafter, “Biard et al.”), titled “LONG WAVELENGTH VCSEL DEVICE PROCESSING”, issued Apr. 18, 2006, and is incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,225,028 to Charles C. Della Santina et al. (hereinafter, “Della Santina et al.”), titled “DUAL COCHLEAR/VESTIBULAR STIMULATOR WITH CONTROL SIGNALS DERIVED FROM MOTION AND SPEECH SIGNALS”, issued May 29, 2007, and is incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,488,341 to Daniel M. Merfeld (hereinafter, “Merfeld”), titled “METHOD FOR OPTICAL STIMULATION OF THE VESTIBULAR SYSTEM”, issued Feb. 10, 2009, and is incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0129210 to Daniel Cantin et al. (hereinafter, “Cantin et al.”), titled “DEVICE AND METHOD FOR TRANSMITTING MULTIPLE OPTICALLY-ENCODED STIMULATION SIGNALS TO MULTIPLE CELL LOCATIONS”, published Jun. 15, 2006, and is incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2007/0261127 to Edward S. Boyden et al. (hereinafter, “Boyden et al.”), titled “LIGHT-ACTIVATED CATION CHANNEL AND USES THEREOF”, published Nov. 8, 2007, and is incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2009/0093403 to Feng Zhang et al. (hereinafter, “Zhang et al.”), titled “SYSTEMS, METHODS AND COMPOSITIONS FOR OPTICAL STIMULATION OF TARGET CELLS”, published Apr. 9, 2009, and is incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2012/0022616 to Carolyn Garnham et al. (hereinafter, “Garnham et al.”), titled “VESTIBULAR IMPLANT SYSTEM WITH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL MOTION SENSORS”, published Jan. 26, 2012, and is incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2013/0013030 to Anita Mahadevan-Jansen et al. (hereinafter, “Mahadevan-Jansen et al.”), titled “METHOD AND APPARATUS OF PULSED INFRARED LIGHT FOR THE INHIBITION OF CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM NEURONS”, published Jan. 10, 2013, and is incorporated herein by reference.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved methods and implantable apparatus to treat various vestibular and cochlear problems.